Blendergrl's Weight Loss Tracker

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I weighed in at my WW meeting this morning and was happy to see a 2.6 pound loss. There is still hope that I will reach my Onederland by Christmas goal. I need to lose 2lbs a week for the next 8 weeks.

In food news (sorry no pictures as I left my Camera at my mom's the other day) my husband had the day off yesterday, when I got home from work he had prepared a recipe from my new Eat Shrink and Be Merry Cookbook. He prepared Feast From the East and it was delicious! We have now made 6 recipes from this book and they have all been excellent. The salad he prepared used cold whole wheat spaghetti, grilled steak, tons of veggies and a wonderful Asian sauce. The next time we have it I will definitely take a picture, it was as good to look at as it was to eat.

The three month gym pass that I purchased in August only has a couple of weeks left. I have really been enjoying the gym and the strength training that I was not really getting in the pool. But, I am missing my swim workouts. I can't afford passes to both so I am a bit torn about where to focus my exercise for the next few months. Hmmmm...

I hope all the other Wed WIs went great. I am off to check on blogland now.

Monday, October 27, 2008

This week has continued on plan. It seems so easy when I am on a roll, 10 days of journalling, eating within my points, exercising every second day and I feel the best I have ever felt! The scale has been dropping every morning this week and I think my Wed WI will be a really good one.

The new winter clothes arrived at work today so we had our usual 'try everything on session' I am please to report that I am officially out of the plus sizes on top. The XL regulars are fitting my great and the 1x that I wore all fall are now baggy. I am also a 14 plus on the bottom now and can squeeze myself into the largest regular size (but not breathe comfortably). All the ladies who work with me were full of compliments and it was a great day.

My DH came home from his latest stint away and I made him step on the scale right away. He is doing fantastic! I am really proud of him.. he is six foot four so he is quickly getting towards a healthy weight for his height. He is starting to look like the guy I starting dating 14 years ago.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I went to WI this morning and was pleased to see a one pound loss. I still think I deserved better after my great OP week but I will be satisfied with any loss at this point. I had to work the evening shift tonight so no great food pictures to post as my lunch was some leftover meatloaf, snap peas, a curves bar (the strawberry one is only 1point!!!), grapes and a 100cal package of craisins.

I just got home and had a quick bowl of cereal to finish off my points for the day and am off to bed! Hope my other Wed WI friends were all losers today.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I have completed my week OP. I earned 24 activity points this week and ate about half of them. I did not dip into my weekly flex at all. I will be weighing in tomorrow morning and don't think the loss will be significant. However I took my measurements today and have lost another inch off my hips and waist even though I have not lost any pounds in the past month. I would love to see the scale start going down again but the fact that my clothes are looser and I can run farther and faster will have to be enough to keep me motivated for now!

Today was leftover day. I turned last nights Sticky Chicky into delicious pita pizzas for lunch. I used BBQ sauce for the base. Added the chopped up chicken, some fresh pineapple, low fat mozzarella and some creamy goat cheese. Felt sinfully good for only 7 points.

Dinner was the leftover meatloaf from the other night, but I did make one of our favourite fall side dishes. Pan fried parsnips (add a bit of butter, orange juice concentrate, splenda brown sugar and salt and pepper.)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Another day OP - feels good! DH and I went shopping to a town 90 min from here so we could hit up a bookstore and then Costco to stock up on meat. We had a Booster Juice for breakfast and Subway for lunch so I had 15 points left for dinner and evening snacking.

I picked up the Eat Shrink and be Merry book I am always reading about on every ones blogs and tonight I made Sticky Chicky (as I had all the ingredients already). It was delicious!! I also made red cabbage and apples (just saute with salt and pepper until tender and then add a splash of red wine vinegar) Threw a side salad together and this entire plate is 8 points!

Today was an planned off day from the gym but I did get in a 30 min walk with DH and the pup as well as lots of mall walking. A little shy on water so far today so I will fill up on another litre before bed while I peruse my new ESBM cookbook.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Tonight I tried a couple of new recipes, one was a huge success and one was a major flop. The first was a Turkey Sweet Potato Meatloaf that I found on http://www.allrecipes.com/ Mashed sweet potato is mixed in with the raw turkey mixture before baking. The result is a moist and flavourful meat loaf. DH really does not like ground meat but he absolutely raved about this loaf and wants me to make it again soon. I made a few adjustments to the recipe on the website. I used some fresh sage and thyme. I only used half the salt and pepper called for and I put in 1/2 cup mixed BBQ sauce and ketchup. The other half cup (plus a tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend) was spread on top halfway through cooking. I like my meatloaf free form on a cookie sheet (more yummy outer crust). This is a must try if you are looking for a way to make this comfort food healthier. Loaf made four very generous servings at 6 points each.

The flop of the evening was a pumpkin custard recipe from the WW.ca website. The custard was band (tasted a bit of dirt) and the yogurt topping was inedible. I think the recipe is good in premise so I will play around with the sweetness and spiciness and give it another try at a future date. Here is a snap of what one looked like (minus the horrible sauce).

I managed to snap a quick picture before the last portion of Friday's chicken stew was consumed. A pretty basic stew but the addition of creamed corn and evaporated milk made it deliciously creamy.

So, to recap: points we on track today. Water - 2L consumed and working on #3. Exercise - 35 minutes jog/walk intervals and 20 min weights. Breakfast and dinner planned for tomorrow (lunch will be at mall food court as we are going on a shopping trip out of town - probably Subway or Opa!)

Saturday, October 18, 2008

As promised to myself here is my check-in for today. I went to the gym last night as planned and had a great workout. For the first time I did Week5 Day1 of the C25K. The intervals were 5min run/ 3min walk/ 5min run/ 3min walk/ 5min run. I felt good through the whole thing and followed it up with 30min of weigh training. I will repeat these running intervals tomorrow and again on Tuesday.

I made a delicious chicken stew last night (sorry, forgot to snap a picture) Did not really follow a recipe but was able to make it thick and creamy in a WW friendly way. Here is what I did

Sauteed shallots, mushrooms, garlic and leeks in 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1/2 tbsp of butter until tender. Sprinkled 2 tbsp of flour over the mixture and cooked for another minute. Whisked in 4 cups of chicken broth.

This recipe made 5 generous portions of thick, creamy stew - for only 6 points each serving!

I packed a healthy lunch for work sticking to my previous plan. I did have an encounter with a cookie from Subway (bought by a co-worker) and worked those 5 points into my daily points. I had more chicken stew for dinner and indulged in some Old Dutch baked dill chips to finish of my points for the day. I tracked everything on the WW website and only have 3 cups of water left to tick all my boxes for today.

I think the scale was scared by all my planning yesterday and this morning showed me a number I have not seen yet. If it shows its face again I will take a picture!

Friday, October 17, 2008

I am slipping back into old habits of doing for everyone before I do for myself. For the last few weeks I have been sporadic with tracking, planning, exercising, blogging and staying for my WW meeting. So I am re-committing right this moment to put myself first again and get back to doing the things that have brought me success so far in my quest to lose this weight. Here is my plan to tackle each of these elements.

Tracking - I will use the WW online tracker everyday this week to track my food, veggies, water and activity points.

Planning - I have written out breakfast, lunch and dinner menus for th entire week and have just returned from the grocery store with everything I need to make these healthy meals,

Exercising - I will go to the gym Friday (today), Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Blogging - I will blog everyday with the delicious meals I have made and to vent any negative feelings I have

WW Meeting - I will attend my regular Wed night meeting and will stay and listen!!!!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and pour out all of the stress and frustration I am feeling onto my blog buddies. Last week my brother and his fiance came to stay with me for 5 days as she recovered from day surgery. She had a tummy tuck and breast augmentation at a clinic near where I live and needed to stay close by for the fist days of her recovery. I definitely don't judge her decision to have these surgeries but she is a tiny tiny girl who, after having 2 babies in 2 years, wanted her old body back. It caused some interesting emotions within me as I have always envied has body (both in size and fertility!) It is hard for me to relate to how she can be so unhappy with her body, I guess we all have body image issues no matter what shape or size!

The hardest part of having them here was the junk food that my brother brought into my house. My brother is 2 years older than me and my parents adopted him when he was an infant. He is tall, dark and skinny - the complete opposite of me - and has never had to watch what he eats. I did not succumb to the junk food but it was strange to have that food back in my house again. I had not seen them in quite awhile and the first thing they both mentioned was that they were amazed at the pictures I had posted on facebook of our bike trip, and how much weight I had lost. My brother and I have a complicated relationship, it meant a lot that he noticed and was clearly proud of me.

On Sunday I drove the 4 hours to visit DH as he had to work for the long weekend. It was a relaxing visit - we went to the Golf Club for Thanksgiving dinner last night. I ate the whole deal - turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It was good - I have no idea of the points so I will call it my Flex for the week and move on.

I have to go to Victoria for work for a few days tomorrow morning. I am dropping the pup off at my parents tonight and since I will not be around for my WW meeting this week I am going to go with my Mom to the one in her town tonight. That means this WI will only be 5 days... I hope to see a 217 ish number again.

Exercise was good this week. 3 days at the gym and one aqua fit class. I am still plugging away slowly at the C25K - I have done the week 4 intervals 6 times now and just do not feel ready to move on yet. I complete it every time but my heart rate is up higher than I would like at the end of the last 5 min run. I think I will do one more week and then move on to the 8 min runs of week 5.

Sorry my posting has been so sporadic... I guess learning to mold this new healthy lifestyle around an irregular routine is just another challenge for me!

Hope you are all doing well - I'm off to check on your blogs now and catch up.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

That is what I had for dinner last night... and tonight. My motivation for getting in the kitchen seems to have disappeared this week. I ate out for lunch every day (Subway Turkey or Tim Horton's Chili) and just snacked my way through my points in the evenings never really managing a full meal. I did track and have not gone over my points at all but I need to get back to putting in the effort of making a real meal for myself.

Part of the problem is that my DH is gone for 4 weeks away at work, I am driving the three hours north to visit him tomorrow and will be there until Tuesday. The tiny village he in working in has no Internet access and pretty limited cable so while he is at work I will be pouring over all the healthy cookbooks/magazines I own (I have a cookbook fetish!!!) and am going to make meal plans/ grocery lists for the rest of October. My running shoes and Ipod will also be coming with me and I will attempt to finish week 4 of the C25K over the next three days.

Onederland seems so close when I look at the numbers... deep breath... I can do this!!!!!!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

I put off WI until today hoping my super water guzzling abilities would put me back to where I was before vacation but I came up a pound short. I am fine with that - I had a great time on my trip - ate ate some great restaurants with some great friends and did not feel deprived - that was worth a pound to me.

I have kept my promises to myself this week. I have kept to my 29 points each day, drank at least 2 litres of water each day and have gone to the gym 4 days in a row. I just returned from my workout tonight and I think I will take a day off tomorrow. I completed day 2 of week 4 in my C25K program but it was a tough one tonight.

The intervals are 3min run, 90sec walk, 5 min run, 2.5min walk, 3min run, 90sec walk, 5 min run. Yesterday I did it for the first time and it went pretty well. I should have taken a day in between because I really struggled tonight even with the 3 min runs. I am proud that I completed it but I literally doubted myself every second of the way and the constant battle in my head made me just as tired as the physical exertion. I think I was just in a bad mental place. Tomorrow I am abstaining from the gym but I will take my dog for a long walk and do 30min on my DDR - that always makes me happy.

About Me

I am a 32 year happily married wannabe foodie living on beautiful Vancouver Island. I have always struggled with my weight and have begun to conquer that demon through clean eating and exercise. My blog is a slice of my life. Ups, downs, celebrations and a lot of food!!